president left office and fled to russia. white housecorrespondentjimacostais with me, and fred polite jen is in moscow, and we will start with jim. first the president made it clear that e he is going to stand with the international community in handling the message with ukraine, and it was a tough message in the 90-minute phone call? >> yes, it was a tough message and we know that the presidents spoke a week and a day ago, but developments have been move sog qui quickly in ukraine with the russian involvement that the president came down hard today in if statement. he said that the united states condemns russia's military intervention in the crimean territory, and i want to put this up on the screen, because this illustrates the statement heref. just how concerned the white house is about what is happening by russia. the united states calls on russia to deescalate tensions by withdrawing the forces back to bases in crimea, and to refrain from interference elsewhere in ukraine. the reason i isolate that particular sentence from the statement, jim, is because it is a couple of things.

as we've been reporting allafternoon,jim. yousaw the pictures coming out of the white house. defense secretary chuck hagel, cia director john brennan, talking about the situation in ukraine and discussing policy options. i should note, jim, that just outside the gates of the white house at this very moment there is a protest going on. some ukranians have gathered outside the north fence to talk about what they would like to see happen. they would like to see the u.s. get more involved. but as the hours go on, jim, i think we're going to get a clearer indication as to how this phone call went down between these two leaders. as you mentioned, they did speak a week ago friday. and you heard the president in the briefing room yesterday issuing that warning to vladimir putin that there would be costs if russia intervenes in ukraine. >> want to point out, jim, while those folks were meeting there in the white house for an emergency session in effect to discuss ukraine those pictures we just saw might explain that the president was on the phone with several world leaders including we now kn

, reporting from moscow, let's go to the white house right now, our senior white housecorrespondentjimacostais standing by. jim, there were important meetings in the west wing of the white house, we saw the top national security advise scores leafing the west wing of the white house. i assume they'll be issuing a statement or someone will be going before the cameras, what are you hearing? >> reporter: and this is eerily similar to when the president was weighing whether to use military force against syria, there were some tense moments over here at the white house on some weekends as you will'll recall, wolf, and these principal meetings do occur from time to time. it does appear that one occurred this afternoon but the white house has to officially congrfi that mississippi t-- that that s the case. the chairman of the joint chiefs, martin dempsey. so it does a appear that senior officials have been meeting with the president here about this situation in ukraine. and you know, wolf, you've been talking about options a that the white house has available to it, options that the preside

to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanillawithjimcramerdavid faber at new york stock exchange. if you had a great weekend we kick off the trading month of march with futures in the red. escalation in the ukraine over the weekend will take a toll after the s&p did hit all-time highs friday. ten-year has a lot to react to today. manufacturing, ism in an hour and jobs numbers coming up friday. europe's losses are roughly in the 2% range. germany right now, among the hardest hit. markets, unpressure this morning, due to the escalating situation in ukraine. monthly increases in consumer income and spending not making a dent. warren buffett says he's not discouraged about the markets today or in the future. citing slow but steady economic improvement. find out what else he's thinking about. >> apple rolling out carplay technology with mercedes and ferrari? futures pointing to a sharply lower open, thanks to ongoing instability in ukraine and russia. this, despite monthly increases in both consumer income and spending. jim, we knew monday was going to be interesting all weekend long.

to russia's black seafleet.jimmacedaisinmoscow.jim, therehave been a lot of stories circulating around about whether or not russia was involved. >> that's right. russia does deny it, as you say. but it didn't have to be their military. because it was dozens of russian-speaking gunmen who stormed those two airports today. the main airport in crimea's capital as well as a smaller military airport. now, it looks like a repeat of yesterday's incident, when those armed commandos seized crimea's government buildings. again, they were not russian, per se. they were ethnic russians living crimea in ukraine. at the commercial airport today, eyewitnesss said the gunmen were looking for ukrainian guards, but where they couldn't find any, they simply left. however, a few vigilantes were left behind patrolling the airport perimeter, which they're doing at this hour, but not disrupting flights. meanwhile, at the balbec military airport, it's really a standoff and that's continuing with russian-speaking gunmen outside the terminal, ukrainian military inside. the government in kiev has called t

to be donenext,jim. >>that's it. our coverage conditions with "the situation room." >>> we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. we're following the growing crisis in ukraine where tensions are rapidly escalating and the president of the united states, president obama is about to walk into the white house briefing room to make a major statement. the ukrainian government is accusing russian black sea forces of trying to seize two airports in crimea and cutting off communications between the russian majority region and the rest of ukraine. russian troops also are set to have surrounded the state television facility, some are calling it, and i'm quoting it now, an armed invasion of the country. all of this coming just six days after the ukrainian president, viktor yanukovych, was driven from the capital following deadly demonstrations against this pro-moscow president. let's go to our senior white house correspondent jim askos sta. explain this for us. >> president obama was supposed to be out here 15 minutes ago so he's running late. he was expected to be at

a background check. >> my name is sarah brady. i'm here on behalf of my husband,jimbairbrady, who was loaded in the assassination attempt on ronald reagan in 1981. >> my name is dan gross. i'm here for my brother, matthew , who was shot in the head atop the empire state building in february of 1997. and for my dear friend, christopher burmeister, who was killed that day. and for the 90 americans who are killed every day by a bullet. and for everyone of us who just wants to live in a safer nation. today, as i said, we are here to mark the 20 year anniversary of what could fairly be called the greatest, most significant step forward toward that goal of a safer nation. the brady handgun violence prevention act, which took , andt 20 years ago today to introduce this special report that we have issued to celebrate the success of the historic legislation and to define the critical work that lies ahead, 20 years of brady background checks, the case for finishing the job to keep america safer. first, i would like to thank some of our special guests here. course, the victims and families t

tojimacostaat the white house. what is the latest in terms of diplomatic efforts on the u.s. front? >> president obama met with his national security advisers earlier this evening, they're not really looking at military options, at least according to what the white house is saying. they're focused on what can be done economically and diplomatically, you heard this talk over the weekend that u.s. and allies won't go to the g-8 summit this summer in russia. the u.s. is cancelling all military engagements that it has with the russians, that's a new step that took place this evening. you mentioned that secretary of state john kerry is heading over to kiev to talk about financial assistance that he is brings promises of from the united states and hopefully according to this white house from european allies, but the president believes that the world is on his side, not vladimir putin's side, the question is whether vladimir putin is listening. >> and in terms of options that the united states has. i mean, there are not a huge number of options. >> there aren't a whole lot of options, the

forward. he pledged $1 billion in u.s. assistance to the strugglingukraine.jimjoiningus now in moscow. good morning to you. a lot going on to talk about. perhaps more aide from the eu and perry going to paris. >> reporter: that's right. kerry is in paris to discuss with russian counter parts. richard, i think you could say there's been a change in the past 24 hours as far as potential progress. that clearly comes from putin's comments tuesday that he saw no need for the use of force in ukraine and had no desire to annex the peninsula. that allowed the perceptible change from the military confrontation we've been reporting on to take a step back from the brink. today in crimea things repain tense on the ground. there's reports of russians seizing two ukraine missile posts. ukraine is spinning not towards war but diplomatic solution. secretary of state john kerry meeting with the russian counter part in paris is the first face to face meeting since the crisis escalated. perhaps more significantly ukrainians and russians on a governmental level are talking for the first time today. the r

for us here atcnn,jimsciutto.jim, whatare your sources telling you tonight? i think we've got to emphasize, the white house hasn't said much about this and nobody expected the president of the united states to come out and make a statement about the ukraine. >> well, the white house hasn't said much but they were certainly worried about it and i've been hearing from a number of different parts of the government as their anxiety grew over the last 24 and 48 hours that something like this would happen. we've all seen the public statements from u.s. officials, from secretary kerry, secretary hagel warning russia not to do exactly what appears to have happened now in the ukraine and that is, send russian troops in. u.s. officials believe these are russia troops. over time, they are getting a better handle and the extent of the troops. this is a scenario that some had warned me about. the idea of tran it would be something more sought tell, special ops and black ops to get more cover and you see the russians getting legal cover here. the ambassador to the u.n. saying that the movem

correspondentjimacosta.jim, whatare we expecting the president to say here? >> i think the president is going to back up secretary john kerry and other officials, including jay carney earlier this afternoon, that any moves by russia to intervene in the crisis to perhaps invade that territory of crimea would be a grave mistake, in the words of white house officials and according to secretary of state john kerry. one thing that we've been pressing officials all day long, jake, is exactly who those forces are in the crimea area. we're seeing forces with insignias that appear to be blackandover or concealed. it's not clear who is on the ground in crimea. hopefully we'll get updated information from the president as to what that is. jake, make no mistake, this is, again, once again, another confrontation between the president and vladimir putin over what is happening. those events on the ground in the ukraine. >> let's bring in chief national correspondent jim sciutto. i was e-mailing with a senior official who points out that the russians have a base and the question is whether what they

can deliver, beginning with our chief national securitycorrespondentjimsciutto.jim? >>clearly the administration is getting ready to act. no decision made yet on whether to impose those sanctions or, indeed, which sanctions to impose but they want to have the options ready. and today we heard the president warn that his goal is to isolate russia and make its actions in ukraine very costly. with russian troops now swarming, sovereigning ukrainian territory, preparing likely sanctions against russia. president obama vowing today to make russia's military intervention a costly proposition. >> what we're indicating to the russians is that if, in fact, they continue on the projectory that they are on, we are going to have a negative impact on russia's economy and its status in the world. >> reporter: the possible sanctions include freezing the overseas assets of russian individuals and companies, banning travel for russian leaders and businessmen and at the more extreme end, blocking some russian banks from the international financial system, an enormously costly situation for russ

. let's bring in with our national securitycorrespondentjimsciutto.jim? >>wolf, officials are attempting to de-escalate the crisis and avoiding any moves that may further inflame the situation. does russia expand its military intervention or does it pull back? on the ground in ukraine, there's a volatile mix of armed forces and emotions, which we saw flair up today. today in crimea, russian and ukrainian forces in a dramatic and dangerous standoff. weapons drawn and here a threat to open fire. >> i said stop! i'm serious. i'll shoot at your legs. >> reporter: and as secretary of state john kerry arrived in the ukrainian capital of kiev, a war of words. russian president vladimir putin and secretary kerry trading die metric clee opposed views of the crisis. back and forth. >> translator: the acting president, of course, is not legitimate. >> the elected representatives of the people of ukraine, they overwhelmingly approve the new government. >> reporter: and back and forth. >> translator: citizens of ukraine, both russian and ukrainian, what worries them? they are worried a

morning. welcome to "squawk on the street." i'm carl quintanillawithjimcramer back from whepg thehelping the wheels of justice turn and jury duty. good to have you back. david faber off today. futures relatively steady here despite the miss on adp. the ten-year yield is back up to 2.7 as the flight to safety fades. what else but the markets? stocks looked to open higher this morning after the dow and the s&p toastposted their best gains of the year. and carl icahn said one company has the worst corporate governance he's ever seen and steve ballmer making his first address since leaving microsoft, he did not disappoint coming to you later this hour. but first up we'll start with the markets, stocks coming off a record session, the s&p a record high and the dow and the s&p having their best day since december 18th. and adp showed the economy created fewer private sector jobs in february as the cold weather restrains hiring. you said the data has been okay. the durables and the chicago pmis have been all right. >> we have great data out of europe pmi. how could

escalating by the moment. we just heard a little while agofromjimacosta,our senior white house correspondent, the united states is now actively considering the possibility of not attending the g-8 summit in sochi, russia, in june unless the russians withdraw their troops from ukraine. don't get involved militarily. the immediate and former u.s. ambassador to russia, michael mcfaul is joining us once again. he's back in stanford university, only back a couple days, ambassador and the situation is escalating by the moment. i want you to listen to what senator john mccain told us here in "the situation room" just a little while ago about president obama. >> it's been clear that maybe the president of the united states has been a bit naive about vladimir putin and his ambitions. >> you served the president of the united states, you were named as his ambassador in moscow, you're a scholar when it comes to russia and the former soviet union. is the president a bit naive when it comes to putin? >> no. and i worked with the president for five years, wolf. i worked with at the white hou

their pierce.>>jimcapretta,what do you think the president is doing or not doing to close the gap? >> i think the budget is aimed at a political statement, not a legislative change. i don't think there is a chance the many proposals will be enacted. it's a political argument the democrats can carry into the november election. the white house all be admitted that's their aim with this kind of budget. back to the issue of inequality. there is a misunderstanding of how inequality came about and whether or not it affects people on the low end. inequality happened because we have a global economy and if someone finds a new idea or research effort or something that's innovative, you can do very, very well in this country if you're a part of that. does that come at the expense of people at the low end? no. there have been many, many economic studies that have shown that just because somebody at the high end is doing better that doesn't come at the expense of the low end. so the president's proposal is really a prescription for the wrong problem. secondly, even if it was the right problem, the

with our chief national securitycorrespondentjimsciuttoheretwlatest.jim? >>i think you could say today we saul the full yin and yang of the u.s. policy response to the crisis in crimea. on the other side, secretary of defense chuck hagel demonstrating the u.s. commitment to its nato allies with the deployment of some aircraft and the cancellation-of nato contacts with russia. on the diplomatic side, we saw the opening of a diplomatic path to solving the crisis, the so-called off ramp u.s. officials have mentioned before, still undefined, kerry said, but a start. >> reporter: u.s. and russian diplomats face to face for the first time since the start of the crisis in crimea. secretary of state john kerry said they are now negotiating a diplomatic path to ending it. >> we are committed to working with russia. together with our friends and allies in an effort to provide a way for this entire situation to find the road to deescalation. >> reporter: russian and ukrainian officials, however, did not meet. >> why didn't you meet lavrov today? >> reporter: but as the diplomats talk or don

obama. senior white housecorrespondentjimakostajoins me now with details about thatcall.jim, whatdo you know? >> reporter: first thing to point out before i detail that phone call, we're getting word that the president at a local fund-raiser in the washington, d.c. and told people at the fund-raiser that we may be able to deescalate this crisis in his words. the u.s. may be able to deescalate the crisis in the coming days so interesting to hear the president using the words, perhaps a hopeful sign about the way the white house feels about what's happening in ukraine at this point. but getting to that phone call, yes, as we all know it took place on saturday. 90 minutes long and according to a senior administration official briefing reporters on that phone call earlier this evening, the president and vladimir putin spent much of that time during that phone call debating the facts on the ground with respect to what's happening on the ground in ukraine. russian president basically saying that he's trying to defend the rights of ethnic russians in ukraine and the president spent the

at this hour. elise labott joins us and michael holmes and our chief national securitycorrespondent,jimsciutto,joins us from washington. >>> first, elise, i want to speak with you. i understand john kerry has already had a brief meeting with the russian foreign minister, sergei lavrov. they have had a somewhat decent relationship in the past. they are set to have a one-on-one meeting any minute now. what's the realistic goal of this meeting? >> reporter: the goal, john, is really to get russian prime minister, lavrov, to sit down with the ukrainian foreign minister. that minister flew on secretary kerry's plane last night with us from kiev to paris. he says he is really eager to sit down with the russian foreign minister. that's what all this diplomacy is about today, trying to give russia that diplomatic off ramp. they want russia and ukraine to sit down, have a dialogue along with the u.s., u.k., france, germany, members of the international community with an interest. they want to get monitors on the ground in ukraine acknowledging that russia does have these concerns in ukraine, p

an act of aggression against ukraine. what's happening now and what does it all mean?nbc'sjimmacedais in moscow. bill neely is in crimea. jim, we start with you in the russian capital there. what does that approval of putin's request to use russian troops mean? >> reporter: hi, craig. you're right. it is pretty symbolic. the legislative body that putin requested that use of force from is a rubber stamp, upper house of parliament. and it doesn't mean that putin will now send in more troops into crimea. there are thousands there already all part of russia's black sea fleet. large numbers have been seen there over the past 48 hours, securing airports, government buildings, telecom towers. what the approval does mean is it's official now. russians have been mobilized in crimea. they can now all put their patches back on. and the approval of course gives putin more options. it allows him to strike not only crimea but anywhere in ukraine. and of course that spikes the tension even higher. >> jim, any word at this point on a timetable? >> reporter: not that we're aware of, no. but i can t

. good morning, welcome to "squawk on the street," i'm carl quinnty naia,withjimcramerand david faber at the new york stock exchange. go, guys, unbelievable. >> i was shocked. a couple months. feels like a couple months. >> the story of my life these days, where does my time go these days? >> it's brilliant. >> big day setting up today, janet yellen is on the hill and a ton of retail earnings. the premarket, ten-year yield durables came in ahead of expectations and europe is dragging a bit some say as the war games on the russian/ukraine border look a little worrisome. the roadmap begins with retail, jcpenneys and best buy in rally mode as earnings top estimates despite flat to slowing sales. >> janet yellen is back on capitol hill this time testifying in front of the senate. this is an appearance that was postponed because of a snowstorm a couple of weeks ago, so any chance she's changed her outlook since then? >> and an electric expansion, tesla says it plans to invest $2 billion in a brand-new battery factory somewhere in the southwest within the next three years. the question is w

indicates the degree to which russia is on the wrong side of history in this.>>jimmacedajoins us now from moscow. jim, we've been talking about this, do you see this as a pull back and a lowering of tensions herely vladmy putin or is it just coincidence? >> hi, julia. it's not questions dense. it wasn't coincidence when they games were called five or on six days ago to take place along the russian/ukrainian border and it's not questiocoincidence tha they're ending today. vladimir putin could just as well have changed, for whatever reason, changed tend date. if this does happen, keep in mind, it was ordered that we haven't seen any indication of a pullback. the -- certainly if these war games do come to an end, it's going to mean that that massive show of force, we're talking about 150,000 troops, 900 tanks, 200 warships and airplanes. i mean, this should really bring the temperature down just in the seeing of and the doing of that kind of pullback. so russia has built up a fourth -- on crimea and division 5, 15,000, 16,000. it has complete operational control of crimea and it's still

by the 1997 base agreement, and de-escalate rather than expand their invasion. >>nbc'sjimmacedais in moscow. jim, putin said in his speech yesterday that he didn't have troops in the crimea. he also acknowledge the idea, perhaps, of a further dialogue. so what is the situation here? and do you believe in a diplomatic solution given what putin was saying yesterday? >> good morning, julia. what a difference a day makes. based on putin's comments, many would say that they're taking them with a grain of salt. but he did say tuesday that he saw no need for the use of force in ukraine, he had no desire to an ex the crimean peninsula. that has allowed in people's perception for a stepping back from the brink. this cold war style military confrontation seems to be yesterday's news. and even though crimea remains tense today on the ground, there have been more exchanges of fire, there's been an approach by the russians to take over a ukrainian post again. still, even though these forces are locked in a standoff, it now appears as if ukraine is spinning not towards war, but some kind of

cost benefit analysis, ukraine is hugely important to russia. and i want to maintainhighjimanyover it. and these incidental sanctions can i weather them and in due course the united states and europe will back off them because they don't have staying power. i will get what they want and they won't hurt me that much. that's their calculus. what's our calculus? >> ambassador, thank you, sir. enjoy london. >> thank you. >> and general bob scales insists russian president putin is bluffing that u.s. intervention must be on the table. i will tell you most people have military fatigue and you put it on the table. >> well, first of all understand russian military forces are very weak. they don't have a draft army. not a single stealth fighter. their navy can't get out of ports. it it really is the gang that couldn't shoot straight. we have still a very strong military. we ought to leverage that asymmetry. is that a threat or actually a follow-through? there are two things there. one is a threat to sort of scare them because they have a pathetic military and the other one is to actually co

between president obama and president putin on saturday. it was reportedly 90minutes.jimacostaliterally just walked out of a white house briefing. what more have you found out about the crucial call which i think is fair to say went a pretty long time. >> it did, erin. it's not often we get a lot of details about a 90-minute phone call between the president and any leader of any country. we talked with some senior administration officials here at the white house about the situation in ukraine, and about that 90-minute phone call. according to the senior administration official, the president spent much of that time, and this goes to perhaps the whole reason why this crisis is unfolding, the president spent most of the time basically challenging putin on his facts that vladimir putin was basically saying that he's stepping in or that russia has a right to defend the interests of ethnic russians in ukraine. and that the president spent much of that the phone call basically disagreeing with vladimir putin. so i think that that goes to what we've been hearing over the last several

heels for a little while until the story clarifies. let's bring in our ace team. michaelfarr,jimiuorioand zachary karabell. gentlemen, let me go to mr. iuorio because i kind of liked what warren buffett had to say. buy farmland, by stock, by hard assets, don't buy money, i don't really think this is going to be world war ii and you don't think you do either. but in general terms, is buffett right? >> i agree, too. when he said it also he did definitely say that in times of war, which you and i both agree we're not there -- but i have been doing that over the last year and a half. diversifying into things like that. i believe that's a smart way to go. >> michael farr, do you believe it's a smart way to go? what i'm suggesting, i hope it's in line with mr. buffett. but i'm saying fundamentally this economy -- you saw it today. we had a good ism in manufacturing, maybe nobody paid attention to it because of the ukraine. we also had a pretty good personal spending and income number. nobody paid attention to that. the economy is growing at 2.5%. labor profits are so low, i don't thi

$1 billion in loan guarantees to ukraine. i'm going to turn to senior white housecorrespondentjimacosta.so, jim, you have both the secretary of state and president obama expressing a lot of support for ukraine today and the administration seemed to offer president putin perhaps a way out of this crisis. >> that's right, brianna. i think that's what the president and the administration has been saying all along through this, that there are these off-ramps for vladimir putin if he wants to bring in international observers to deal with some of these questions that he has about the safety of ethnic russians, which by the way the administration rejects, then bring in international observers. i will tell you we just came out of what was supposed to be a budget briefing and as you know the president was making those remarks earlier at a budget event. it just shows you how much ukraine and the events are dominating everything right now. i had a chance to ask white house press secretary jay carney about vladimir putin's claim that those are not russian troops in crimea and jay carney sai

with his russian counterpart.nbc'sjimmacedawill join us in a couple of minutes. >>> investors getting a fresh snapshot of the labor market. adp will release its february report on private sector employment at 8:15 eastern time. economists think the u.s. economy added 160,000 new private sector jobs last month. that is the number to pay attention to. also out today, we're going to be getting the institute for supply management's nonmanufacturing index as well as the fed's beige book. a little bit of news for those of you still play on yahoo!. yahoo! wants users to have their own yahoo! logins in order to access its services. it says it's going to stop letting users access those services like flickr and fantasy sports by using their facebook or google logins. yahoo! says they'll phase in the changes gradually. that's how i get into a lot of the stuff, using my facebook or google password. now i have to get a third. >> i don't have any facebook. i'm not in any of these things. do you have the same password for all of these? >> i used to but i changed them before i got hacked. >> what is

'donnell: all right, wyatt. thank you. and we want to note the passingofjimlange.he died of a heart attack. lange was the first host of the ""dating game." >> let's meet them, and here they are! >> o'donnell: lange hosted for more than a decade, beginning in 1965. celebrity guests included farrah fawcett, a very young michael jackson, even arnold schwarzeneggar. every episode ended with a kiss, sometimes a lusty kiss. jim lange was 81. up next, president obama touches on a very personal issue at a white house event. of your symptoms. really? alka seltzer plus severe sinus fights your tough sinus symptoms plus your runny nose. oh what a relief it is dominique wilkins, are taking charge of their type 2 diabetes with non-insulin victoza. for a while, i took a pill to lower my blood sugar, but it didn't get me to my goal. so i asked my doctor about victoza. he said victoza works differently than pills, and comes in a pen. and the needle is thin. victoza is an injectable prescription medicine that may improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. it is not

a russian military base there, as well as ethnic russians living in the region. let's go tonbc'sjimmacedawith the very latest on this. jim, let's get the latest. are we seeing something that could be another cold war brewing here between the u.s. and russia, ultimately? >> reporter: alex, well, the first sign things were going seriously south today was this morning when russian foreign minister sergei lavrov said that ukrainian power militaries actually attacked the ministry in crimea, wounding several people, presumably ethnic russians. despite there being no confirmation, no evidence of that, that alleged threat to russian compatriots in ukraine triggered a quick escalation, which russia has used many times before to justify an invasion. first the leader of ethnic russians in crimea called on president putin to send forces in to protect them from hostile extremists. then very quickly putin replied, requesting the use of force. and as you said in your lead, getting that request from force from the parliament. all that happening within just hours. now, that doesn't mean, alex, that putin

but can they do anything about it?nbc'sjimacedalive in moscow. >> reporter: veronica, secretary kerry will go to kiev no doubt to try to calm the waters so that kiev does nothing that might unintentionally intense situation. it's true that the west has mobilized against russian president's vladimir putin's military takeover of crimea. that's firmly in his hands. it's unclear what the west can do about it. not attending the g 8 summit in june in sochi, for instance, is only symbolic, it's not really more than a meeting. economic sanctions sound good on paper perhaps and look good but in fact the u.s. has little economic leverage over russia. the e.u. sanctions might have teeth but europe is truly reluctant to go there. they're worried about putin's reaction like shutting offer europe's supply of natural gas. neither the u.s. nor nato are contemplating any military action against the russian nuclear power. so while the west has few effective option, putin, meanwhile, says that he has the right to launch his troops and tanks even further into ukraine if russian interests and lives there

? and if he does, will the u.s. push back? let's get right toit.jimmacedais live in moscow. what do you know? >> reporter: there is positive news. the kremlin saying it's ordered all armed forces involved in those war games along the russian/ukraine border to return to their bases, meaning that huge show of force, 150,000 troops of 900 tanks is over now. if true, we haven't seen confirmation yet, but, if true, that should take the temperature down somewhat. that said, russia has built up the forces to division size. russia is now completely in operational control of the peninsula and poised to strike elsewhere in ukraine if vladimir putin decides it's in his interests. in response to all of this, the u.s. and its allies are struggling to come up with a package of diplomatic and economic sanctions like freezing russian assets. vladimir putin seems largely unworried to say the least about the prospect of sanctions. with secretary of state john kerry in kiev today to discuss certainly ways to end the crisis, there's emerging now moscow's end game. it's becoming much clearer. according to s

just 12 were allowed through to their posts. nbc news foreigncorrespondent,jimmacedais live for us now in moscow. let's look ahead to secretary kerry's meeting in paris. any hope of progress or is this just more posturing from both sides? >> reporter: hi, thomas. well, i think you can feel a sea of change in the past 24 hours. you cited some of putin's comments yesterday. some of them troubling, no doubt. he also said he saw no need for use of force in ukraine and had no desire to annex the crimea peninsula, really allowing that cold war style military confrontation that we've been reporting on to take a step back from the brink. we've seen that in the reaction of the world stock markets already. and even though rhymea remaicri very tense on the ground, those pictures prove that, even a report of russians seizing two more crimean anti-missile posts, the perception is that ukraine is spinning not toward war but some kind of diplomatic solution. secretary of state meeting with count counterpart sergey lavrov. this is the first time since the current crisis escalated that they've had

dating game." bill: i agree with that. rememberingthejimlang.martha: we had three doors with the home game and you could put in different bachelors. we did. bill: that was at the maccallam house. fun times. martha: "happening now" starts right now. jenna: today's top headlines and brand new stories you see here first. jon: she is the social eight on trial for the murder of her ex-husband. the jury hears what was really planned for the victim on the night he died. >>> scare in the air. a flight forced to makage emergency landing. what happened inside the cabin that had everyone worried. >>> a armed robber messes with the wrong guy. why a convenience store clerk is being called a hero this morning. the whole thing is caught on tape and all "happening now." jenna: start with some politics now. brand new polling on the all-important midterm elections. hi, everybody. hope you're off to great day so far. i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. control of congress as you know be for grabs come november. days before the first primaries new polls suggest republicans are in a stronger position than

, has ordered his government to consider a request for humanitarian aid.nbc'sjimmacedais in russia. the parliament yesterday promised a referendum on the country's future. what more is needed, do you think, to stabilize this situation? >> well, that's really going to be up to vladimir putin. he and russia are calling the shots with the pro russian faction inside ukraine. it's fine for the pro russian faction to want to have a referendum, but if russia isn't ready to accept these people and to accept a splitting apart of ukraine, which it says it hasn't been ready to do and won't accept, then that situation will simply two forward as long as putin wants it to. and in terms of the actual flash points, the tension is -- we haven't seen it this bad since this crisis began in krimiea. it wasn't just one, turns out it was two more airports hit today. there was a siege by these russian speaking military types, although russia denies any involvement at all of its military. and it looked like a repeat of yesterday's incident where similarly armed adults seized government buildings. today it

this that is unrelated. youheardjimtalkabout the un envoy sent to crimea. that was threatened and not kidnapped. he is now safe and preparing to leave ukraine. several armed men threatened special envoy robert sari. they blocked him at a coffee shop. break this down for us. what happened and what kind of threat was this? how did he escape the coffee shop? >> we heard jim saying someone will get hurt. this un envoy has his diplomatic mission cut short in crimea. it just arrived. he visited a naval base and was leaving when armed men, 10 to 15 in number, not everyone with weapons surrounded him and demanded he leave crimea immediately and go to the airport. he got into the car he came with and refused to get out and the men blocked the car. they then were threatening him. he was described as shaken and not physically hurt. he walk and sought refuge. the late news is that the united nations is saying they are taking a late flight out and will return shortly to kiev to continue his mission. cut short by today's incident, the words of the united nation spokesman office here in new york. secretary genera

that the president and we've heard these comments from secretaryhagel,jim. whatseems to be the tone where you are. >> tamron, first of all, turning quickly to kiev, what a first day on the job to arseni -- he's the former economy and foreign minister, very well known to both the u.s. and russia. he was officially voted today as the interim prime minister, and his was a full plate. those russian-speaking commandos that you mentioned carry ak-47s and sniper rifles who stormed the crimean building, they're holed up inside. police have cordened off the area. crimea very important, because it is the home to the russian black sea fleet. to worsen matters there, now pro-russian lawmakers in crimea are calling for a referendum for separating from the ukraine. meanwhile, in an offense show of force, though, the kremlin here in moscow denies any connection to the events unfolding in you another crane form the surprise war games are in the second day. you mentioned 150,000 troops, add to that some 900 tanks and some 200 aircraft and warships, and it's all focused on the russian border with ukraine, keeping

-minute warning on that. kristen welker at the white house. stay with us, obviously. we want to gotojimmacedaon the line with us, on the phone from moscow. jim, we are told that the 3red plead and also vladimir putin have had words and spoken to one another on the phone. what can you tell us about that? >> i don't have insight into that phone call but from my perch in moscow, we cannot underestimate the deep sense of rebee trail that president putin feels at this point, given the way the events eventually unfolded. they thought the february 21st agreement would lead to a series of benchmark, a timeline that would have taken yanukovych, kept him in power until the end of the year and then suddenly, everything was flipped on its ear. putin found himself outside of the loop as all of these forces, a whole new group of people that putin mistrusts profoundly were suddenly calling the shots, not from inside kiev's parliament, but from the streets of kiev. -- >> let's go now to president obama at the white house. thank you, jim. >> the united states has been responding to events as they unfold in u

approved that use of force. on the phone, we have chief national securitycorrespondentjimsciutto.jim, whatis this very quick vote signal to you? >> reporter: i think it's the russians slow rolling an invasion of sovereign ukrainian territory, and in direct defiance of repeated public and stern warnings from u.s. officials ranging from secretary kerry, secretary hagel right up to the top, right up to the president. you saw his comments yesterday. it is a sobering development. the fact is, u.s. officials were already telling us yesterday that those masked troops on the ground as of yesterday in and around crimea were russian so now you have a public in effect acknowledgment from the russian government that the president wants to send troops in there, this authorization. i think the other point is that you can see this as an intelligence failure by the u.s. officials had been telling us in the last 48, 72 hours that it was their assessment that the russians would not go in, and here you have it happening. it is not the way they did it in georgia in 2008. you remember when russia sent t

. craig? >> all right. nbc's ian williams for us there in ukraine, thank you. want to bring innbc'sjimmecadanow. we heard from secretary of state kerry and samantha power and then the white house announcement on friday afternoon that warning that there would be costs. how's russia reacting to the criticism coming from this country? >> reporter: well, if russia is putin, they're reacting like the teflon man. first of all, the reason for that is that putin wouldn't call what he's doing an act of war or aggression with all due respect to secretary of state kerry, but more of an act of self defense from his point of view, from putin's point of view, the new western or pro-western government in kiev is posing an existential threat to crimea and it's an essential war mortar port and base for the black sea fleet and he doesn't seem a bit affect bd i the criticism from abroad. putin doesn't seem to -- he doesn't seem to believe that the u.s. or its allies have the leverage to hurt him, especially when he sees the kind of reaction coming from russians out in the streets here in moscow and st.

tradersarejimurioand anthony grisante in newyork.jim, iwill start with you. what's your best trade given what we have seen and the moves we've seen already in some of those commodities? >> i think it's oil. remember this. even if people are saying buy the dip and this situation will come to some sort of settlement in the next couple days, markets don't forget immediately what drove them to that spot. the market move can sometimes take a lifetime of its own. i think crude's up to 108, 110 because the market will remember oh, yeah, there's geopolitical risk and it's hard to be short crude. i expect that to be the best trade. >> anthony, do you agree? is there a trade higher on the list for you? >> i agree with jim only because oil was strong even before any of this started. there is high demand for our products not only in the u.s. but around the world. that can be affected. but the trade i'm looking at is gold. i think it's gotten a little ahead of itself. i really don't think in my opinion that we are going to see all out war here. gold getting good resistance. i'm looking to actua

on ukraine. let's bring in our senior white housecorrespondent,jimacosta.jim, thewhite house says it won't be sending a presidential delegation to the paralympic games in sochi, russia that, are about to begin. is this more boy costs? it looks like the g-8 summit in june the u.s. was planning on participating in, that may be gone, as well. >> reporter: that's right. and you heard secretary of state john kerry say, wolf, it may become the g-7. that russia may be expelled. want to pick up on something you were talking about with anderson cooper about that alleged ultimatum from russia to ukrainian forces about crimea. there is a state department conference call going on right now, wolf, and a state department spokeswoman, jen psaki, said they don't have any independent confirmation that ultimate yum has been issued. but if that had occurred, it would in their view constitute a dangerous escalation. so that quick response from the white house to those events, even though the russians are saying that that did not occur. you mentioned the word from the white house earlier this morning that, y

right, ian williams, thank you for that report. >>> let's turn now to russia wherenbc'sjimmacedajoins us from moscow. what's the latest from there, jim, particularly in the wake of the news conference that putin held yesterday? >> reporter: hi, kristen. well, from the -- certainly from this perch here, it does feel like a flurry of diplomacy in the past 24 hours. the chances of avoiding war in the ukraine seems to be getting a boost, particularly from putin's comments yesterday, tuesday, that he saw no need to use force in ukraine and had no desire to annex the crimean peninsula. those two comments really allowed the military confrontation that we've been reporting on to take a step b k back. and even though, as ian reports, crimea remains tense on the ground today with a new report that russians had seized two ukrainian anti-missile posts, the perception still is that ukraine is spinning now not towards war, but towards some kind of diplomatic solution. secretary of state john kerry's meeting with sergey lavrov, for instance, starting in paris in less than an hour, is their fi

lingering fears they will not stopthere.jimmacedajoins us live from moscow with more on the diplomatic efforts under way. jim, what's the latest? >> reporter: hi, there, tamron, well, that meeting you referred to was indeed brief, kerry did urge lavrov to have direct talks. that seems to be an important theme now, unifying this swirl of activity. it was their first face-to-face since the ukraine crisis escalated. that is just one example of this, again, this flurry happening over the past 24 hours, tamron, the chances of avoiding war in ukraine seem to have gotten a boost from vladimir putin's comments. yesterday if you recall, he said he saw no need for the use of force in ukraine, had no desire to annex the crimean peninsula, and really that's a sigh of relief has been resinating in the international financial markets, including here in russia in moscow after historic drops on monday. that's just one example. the perception today, tamron, is that ukraine is spinning now not towards war, but some kind of diplomatic solution. in addition to kerry/lavrov meetings, more importantly, you'

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